Smile
by PurpleAngel87
Summary: Loosely based on 'Bad Day' by Daniel Powter. Set during Haunted. Ray/Neela. One-shot. Neela's POV...What exactly was going through her head that day? Rating for one word.


Disclaimer: I don't own ER or anything to do with it.

AN: This is set during 'Haunted' and is loosely based on the song 'Bad Day' by Daniel Powter. I really enjoyed writing it, partly because, well who doesn't love Ray and Neela? I was really let down by the ending of the episode…and I live in UK so please no-one tell me what's going to happen later on in the series! Let me know what you think – feedback is always greatly appreciated!

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I rolled over, pushing the quilt off of my face and lifted my head up to look at the time. 7.45. I groaned. I had to be at work in 45 minutes. It was one of those times when you would wish as hard as you could that there could be just a couple of extra minutes in the day. I turned over and jumped up as soon as my skin made contact with the cold floor and ran into the bathroom. That was my wake up call every morning – rolling out of bed and falling on the floor.

I smiled wryly to myself as I thought of what Ray's reaction would have been if I had used that routine when we had been living together – he would probably have come running into my room holding a baseball bat, expecting there to be a burglar in the house.

I turned the shower on and put my hands underneath as I fiddled with the settings to turn the temperature hotter and let my mind drift back to Ray.

Ray. Just his name made my stomach contract with a range of feelings. Butterflies and the slight feeling of guilt at the top of the list, but most of all, I just missed him. I missed staying up late into the night watching horror films with him even if I had to be at work for the early shift. I missed coming home from work and just chilling with a beer and him. I missed his stupid jokes and him leaving his socks all over the apartment.

I groaned, realising there was no hot water and I was running out of time. I sighed. I guess it would have to be a cold shower today.

Ten minutes later, I was more or less ready. I pulled my coat on along with one of my shoes, before hopping around the rest of my flat trying to find the other one, which I finally found under my bed. I glanced around the flat, making sure I had everything before reaching for my keys and running out of the door, letting it slam behind me.

The cold wind hit me as soon as I walked outdoors. I couldn't help but wish that I was ill so I didn't have to go into work. A few weeks ago, I would never have thought that. I loved my job, I really did, but at the moment, it was just taking its toll on me and my new intern wasn't really helping matters. I couldn't help but feel I needed a long awaited holiday.

I forced myself to start walking faster. Even though I didn't want to go in to work today, walking at snail's pace wasn't really going to help my punctuality. Remembering I hadn't had time for breakfast, I turned the corner and walked into the café at the end of the road. _Damn it! _There were already five people waiting in queue before me. Did I really need to have a coffee? _Yes_ was my immediate response. I was late and hungry – if I could solve at least one of those problems, my day might just get slightly better. I decided to get a coffee – my reasoning being that if I was going to be late anyway, I may as well be late and not hungry. I could almost hear my mothers nagging voice telling me that I wasn't taking enough care of myself.

I groaned mentally as the gentleman at the front of the queue ordered four coffees and one tea. How long were these people taking? I kept looking at my watch – I think I thought that the more I looked at it, the slower time would to go. If Ray still lived with me, I could have gotten a lift. I sighed as Ray crossed my thoughts once again this morning, immediately dragging my spirits down a notch.

"How can I help you?"

The voice of the barista interrupted my thoughts. She was a young girl with blonde light brown hair and light brown eyes and her ridiculously over happy smile and her high squeaky voice made me want to hit something.

"Er…I'll have a latte to go, please," I managed to say, plastering on a really fake smile onto my face.

I couldn't remember the last time I had actually smiled properly. My usual smiles recently were sarcastic, bitter or completely fake, like the one I had just given the barista.

She handed me my coffee and took my money and I turned around to walk out of the café, making a decision. No thinking about Ray today. I was having a bad day as it was and I didn't need to make it any worse with the couple of aspects of aspects of my life that were actually under my control.

I carried on walking towards the train station when I felt a drop of water land on my nose. I looked up to the sky just as it started drizzling and I sped up not wanting to get wet on my way in to work. Lucky as I am, within two minutes, it was all out pouring and rummaging through my bag whilst trying to keep my coffee upright was not only difficult, but made me want to punch something. I had forgotten my umbrella.

I began running and finally made it up the stairs of station and onto the platform only to see the train was just taking off. I checked the screen for the time of the next train and saw that it wasn't for ages.

I made my way back down the stairs and called a taxi as soon as I stepped out into the Chicago shower.

"County General, please," I said to the taxi driver whilst pulling my door shut.

I think the taxi driver could sense that I wasn't in the mood for small talk, and thankfully he didn't start any conversations with me. At this moment, my hair was drenched and sticking to my face, my coffee was now cold and I had forgotten to close my bag after looking for my umbrella, so most of the stuff in there was wet too. I looked a mess and I was pretty sure the ER staff would let me know in a not so subtle way when I walked into work, nearly half an hour late.

I think I actually felt a slight sense of relief when I saw the familiar building come into view. At least I had made it in without dying, I suppose. I pulled my purse out as the taxi driver how much I owed him and almost immediately, panic set in. I didn't have enough money to pay him. I carried on looking through my purse in the hope that alongside the old credit cards would be a solution to my problem when I looked around me to see if there was anyone I recognised.

I think I nearly cried in relief when I saw Sam walking towards me.

"Hey, Neela, everything alright?"

"Oh Sam, thank God you're here! You don't have ten dollars I can borrow do you? I've just realised I don't have enough," I said, sounding almost like a child who had forgotten their homework. I had barely finished my sentence when Sam handed me a note.

"Oh thank you so much! I'll pay you back as soon as, Sam," I said.

"No problem," she said whilst walking away.

I handed the fare over to the taxi driver who pocketed it and drove off. I threw my half empty coffee cup into the bin as I walked into the hospital. The first thing I saw was Frank and a few of the staff nurses at the desk who all looked like they were trying their hardest not to laugh. _ I knew it, _I thought as I made my way over to lifts so I could get changed into my scrubs in the locker room.

I had barely just pulled on my scrubs and managed to make my hair look slightly presentable, when my pager went off. It was the ER. I was considering what to do – whether to go down straight away or to have a quick talk with Dubenko first.

"Dr. Rasgotra, I see you finally made it in. What's the excuse - late night drinking last night?"

I turned around to see that fate had already made my decision for me. Dr. Dubenko was standing in front of me with a few charts in his hands and a slight frown on his face.

"Good morning, Lucien. I just missed my train this morning, that's all."

My pager went off again.

"That's the ER, isn't it?"

"Er…Yeah, I'll go down in a second."

He nodded in approval, as he began to talk through his day and all the patients.

Whilst he was doing that, my pager went off another four times, each time causing me to bite my lip nervously.

"Dr. Rasgotra, it seems the ER needs you. We'll talk later, come find me when you're done!" He finished already half way down the corridor.

"And you have my permission to have a go at Morris!" He added before rounding the corner.

I started walking off in the opposite direction to him, towards the lifts again.

I folded my arms as soon as I had pressed the button in the lift for the ER. All in all, this morning had been a bad beginning to a bad day. I almost wished I hadn't bothered getting out of bed this morning. Not only had I turned up to work late, I was wet, tired and hungry and all I wanted to do was go home and sleep.

I walked out of the lift and towards the reception desk, seeing that Morris was already standing with some of the nurses and Frank.

"Morris, you can't keep paging me every five minutes, what is it?" I tried to sound as annoyed as I could but I don't think I pulled it of that well.

He gestured towards curtain three. He was acting strange. Normally there would have been a comment about how to answer a page promptly.

"Very very sick patient in curtain three," he said, adding extra emphasis on the second very.

I followed his line of sight and saw a man wearing a Frankenstein mask pacing up and down behind the curtain. I frowned.

"Well, he doesn't look that sick, he's walking around, what's his complaint?" I asked quickly.

"Uh…he's turning green," was what Morris came up with after a short pause. I raised an eyebrow at him. I was already having a bad day, if he wanted me to have a go at someone, I wasn't going to turn that opportunity down. I might even make me feel a bit better. I began to walk towards the patient, barely registering that the nurses had crowded around Morris.

"Hello! I'm Dr. Rasgotra, how can I help you?" I said, as soon as I made it into the curtain.

The man in front of me pointed to his neck, mumbling one word.

"Hurts."

I looked at him disbelievingly and decided to give him another chance. "I see, and anything else?"

He leaned down towards me slightly this time. "Need brain transplant," he said in a low voice. I couldn't believe it! I launched into a tirade.

"Sir, this is an ER with real patients who are sick and need our help – "

"Hey, roomie." He cut me off and I was left standing there with a look of shock upon my face, looking at the man who had just taken his mask off.

"You bastard!" I exclaimed as I launched myself into Ray's open arms, hearing cheering from the desk.

"Oh, God," was the only thing I was capable of saying whilst still in his arms, as for the first time in months, I let a real smile grace my lips. Maybe this day wasn't going to be as bad as I thought.


End file.
